joining me now, senator barbara boxer, democrat from california and whip of the senate. thank you for being on the show. >> i love being on your show. thank you. >> if the gop agrees to tax increases, how important might that be in terms of showing they actually are capable of working with the president? >> you know, the way they raised the question, if they agree to tax increases, they claim they're willing to do these loop-hole closers but the difference here is the tax rates. here's the issue. as you know, the bush tax cuts, which resulted in rates being lower for 100% of americans, they all expire at the end of the year. democrats have said to republicans, we know you want to extend them for everybody, even if they make $5 billion, $7 billion, $2 million, we'll extend them to the first $250,000 of income. and then the top 2% would have to pay a little bit more. so in my mind and in the president's mind, i think we look at this, and i think it's common sense and say to the republicans, we agree with you on 98% of what you want to do. you want to extend the tax cuts to